Cook County Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans is being challenged for only the second time since he became the county's first African-American chief judge in 2001.

Former Chicago alderman Thomas R. Allen, a chancery judge at the Daley Center, confirmed Monday that he will be a candidate when the county's judges vote for the top post in a secret ballot next month.

In a letter to the county's 241 judges, Evans, 73, said, "I welcome the challenge."

Allen, 64, touts his experience as a defense attorney and says his platform calls for "more dialogue among the judges."

"My thought is we need better working relationships with the other partners in Cook County government, with the Cook County sheriff, with the county board and the board president," he said.

Allen said he had been speaking to his colleagues on the bench about his election bid and that he has "taken suggestions from other judges" but declined to name any that are supporting him.

Allen, who was the 38th Ward alderman for 17 years, noted that canvassing for votes among judges was "very different" from running for public office. The judges are "a small group, and it's not a public thing. It's very private," he said.

He seemed inclined to keep it that way, declining to comment any further on his pitch to his fellow judges.

"A bunch of judges go in the room and whoever gets the most votes wins. That's it in a nutshell," he said. "Whoever wins will have my support and my respect."

It's not the first time Allen has run for higher office: He was defeated in 2008 by Anita Alvarez when he ran for Cook County state's attorney.

Evans, who was himself an alderman and whose bid for Chicago mayor in 1989 was unsuccessful, wrote in his letter to fellow judges that "while I respect any judge's right to run, I respectfully suggest that no other judge has more passion for improving our system of justice nor fought harder or longer to produce the results I believe my leadership and experience have brought about."

In 2010, Evans easily held off a challenge for chief judge from former Judge William Maddux.